Illusive Magic Spells

The primary axiom of Illusive Magic is to fool the senses into believing that what is not, is and that what is, is not. This simple concept gives rise to some of the most powerful capabilities available from the Magic Skill.

Illusions are successfully created upon completion of the caster's test. Anyone coming in contact with the illusion, for as long as it exists, will believe fully in the illusion until such time as it's reality can be questioned. Disbelief is initiated whenever the sense limits of the spell are exceeded by the target. The GM should cause Disbelief tests to be made by the players in ignorance, or make the test rolls himself.

For purposes of learning these spells, there are six skills in all:

That which is perceived by the eyes. This could include thermal or ethereal perception if the caster was exercising his own ability in that area while casting the illusion.

That which is perceived by the ears.

That which is perceived by the olfactory senses or nose.

That which is perceived by contact with the skin. This could include the perception of physical pain, which if not disbelieved could cause real injury, or even death. Any illusion of injury, once sustained, allows the receiver a (additional) disbelief roll one level of difficulty less than usual for the effect. Disbelief cancels the injury and otherwise acts as a normal disbelief attempt.

That which is perceived by the tongue and/or taste buds.

Never a spell on its own, this allows the illusion the ability to change during its duration such that an illusory sound could change pitch and timbre to mimic speech, or an illusory landscape could move within itself to mimic the breeze drifting through its leaves. Without Change, illusions are as dead as paintings, no matter how realistic, a few seconds, maybe minutes is all that is needed to perceive the fakery.

The caster may never affect senses that he cannot perceive. A simple dog whistle would be out of the question for most Human characters. By the same rational, if the caster has never seen something that he is attempting to produce the illusion will allow a Disbelief determination to someone who has seen "the real thing".

Each spell may be cast simultaneously with any or all of the others to produce the most convincing effect. Each spell added to the first increases the difficulty by +1D such that the most powerful illusion, incorporating all six sense aspects is an Impossible (D8) test. Such an illusion cannot be Disbelieved as there is no sense left to reveal its falsehood.

When casting multi-sense spells the base Fatigue cost is equal to the total cost of all component spells each minute of duration. When the Spell Casting Pool is used to reduce Fatigue expenditure for such a spell, the rate is reduced for the duration of the spell.

The Advance Training Level for multi-sense spells (to determine pool points and other advantages) is equal to the average training level of all component spells minus one (rounding fractions to the next higher whole number).

The Fatigue costs for casting Illusions is cumulative. Each sense added to the mirage adds its own drain on the caster. The powerful illusion mentioned above would drain 16 points of fatigue from it's caster for every minute it is sustained.

Role Playing Illusive Magic

The player running the casting character should graphically describe for the GM (and the group as well if practical) the effects he wishes to produce, itemize the spells used to create the effect, and indicate how he wants it to affect the intended targets. A common example is the "disappearance" or "invisibility" effect:

Balthazar, a competent magician and sometimes competent thief has once again bungled a pick pocket attempt. He has determined quickly that the swaggering mercenary, whose purse he had attempted to pilfer, will probably kill him for the attempt. Balthazar decides to fade into the scenery, literally; first, he needs an illusion of Sight for his disappearing act, but he also wishes to be somewhere else so he will need the illusion of Change to cover his own movement. Noting his advanced skill level in each of the effects (Sight(3) and Change(4)) and hoping that the mercenary isn't to bright (what mercenary is?) he casts his spell. He will make a Challenging(D3) test (D2 for the first +D1 for the second effect) against his Magic attribute, expending five (4 + 1) fatigue points in the process. He will apply his Spell Casting Pool as usual, figuring his Advanced Skill Level as [(3 + 4) / 2] -1 = 2½, rounded up is 3) After a few seconds and a successful test Balthazar fades into the crowd, leaving a none-to-bright mercenary searching futilely for the source of that tug on his purse.

Disbelief

Characters (or monsters) coming in contact with the effects of an Illusion may attempt to Disbelieve their senses (penetrate the falsity of their perception) by making a test against their Intelligence. This test is made with a difficulty equal to that of the original casting, plus one die per additional level of skill possessed by the caster. Combination effects get this bonus only for the effect of least skill.

Sven, our none-to-bright mercenary, feels the familiar tug of someone else's greed on his purse. He reflexively swats away the arm of the thief and spins to confront him, short sword in hand, just as the thief fades into thin air. Sven, recognizing that thieves don't just vanish into thin air utters a vulgar oath against witchcraft and attempts to Disbelieve this apparition. He will make a Strenuous(D5) test (D3 for the spell difficulty +D2 for the two additional levels of skill for Sight) against his Intelligence. Sven has an Intelligence of 12, high for a mercenary, but no match for an illusion of this caliber, and is left wondering if he really did feel that tug, or see that thief.

Protecting Friends

Illusions are powerful expressions of magical will. They are a manipulation of the perception of physical reality and as such no one but the castor is automatically immune from their effects. The castor himself may find the illusion easier to believe than reality after extended absence from his own illusions. To protect himself, the castor often incorporates a key image into his illusions. It is usually small, and often well hidden and illogical in construction - images of three dimensional objects that cannot physically exist are common. Many schools and guilds have established standardized keys, to allow identification of one another's work. A relevant key of this sort could be worked out by an adventuring guild or party, allowing group members the ability to perceive illusions designed to assist or protect the party. Note that this does not make the illusion cease for the perceiving character (as Disbelief would). He just knows it is an illusion (a Disbelief roll is appropriate). The castor must identify the Difficulty required to perceive the key for each illusion cast with a key. Placing the key in an obtrusive manner may allow others to perceive such an illusion unintentionally.

Balthazar, is working the crowd with a companion, Mete'. She's been distracting likely targets with her attractive wares while Balthazar closes in for the heist. They've worked out a key - Balthazar will place the image of a key dangling from his target's pocket in his illusions. When Balthazar disappears, Mete' becomes concerned that he's been caught and/or apprehended. She quickly looks for the tell-tale key and although cleverly hidden she is relieved to see it - and knows that Balthazar will meet her in the side alley in a minute or two. As Balthazar casts his illusion, he includes the key image, they've done this so often that it's almost automatic for him. Besides the image is only slightly different than the one he was taught to add as a student of the Academy. He conceals it at D3 difficulty - in this crowd there is no telling if another of his class might get curious seeing the familiar illogical form. Mete' makes a D3 roll against Intelligence to perceive the key - finding it she knows Balthazar has had to use the Arts to escape and is unconcerned.

Wards

Wards and other protective spells work slightly differently for Illusions. As usual, the castor of the Ward must first use Etheric Perception to successfully identify the presence of a spell. The modifiers provided by such spells are used to improve the Disbelief attempt - a two die Ward Area reduces the Difficulty of all Disbelief attempts in the area by two levels. Such Wards may also be used to acquire additional Disbelief rolls.

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